Thoughts on the Wainwright extension

Like most of us thought, the Cardinals and Adam Wainwright worked out a deal that was beneficial for both sides. John Mozeliak, AW and his representatives kept the talks behind closed doors, only recently revealing before the deal was done that both sides felt optimistic and that Adam wanted to remain a Cardinal. The Cards have now locked up Wainwright, Yadier Molina and Allen Craig to long term deals that combined make up less than what Albert Pujols received from the Angels. You can throw Carlos Beltran in there as well.

I think Wainwright will return to 2009-2010 form. I think at the end of this year and the next few he’ll be in the conversation with Clayton Kershaw, Matt Cain, Gio Gonzalez, Stephen Strasburg, Madison Bumgarner, Cole Hamels and a few others for the Cy Young Award. That is part of the reason the Cards signed Wainwright to an extension. The other is for Adam to keep passing the torch he took from Chris Carpenter onto Michael Wacha, Shelby Miller, Carlos Martinez, Trevor Rosenthal, Joe Kelly and many others.

It’s not just leading by example with what Wainwright does on the mound, it’s all of those things that must take place in the offseason. It’s the way that Wainwright is with the media, with the fans, and most importantly, to his teammates. Wainwright understands playing in St. Louis is something special, and that the Cardinal way really is different. It’s the selfless attitude that must be there on the days he doesn’t pitch, and the bulldog mentality on the day he does. All of these young arms the Cardinals have coming are the future, and they needed everything that was passed down from Dave Duncan to Carpenter to Wainwright to be a presence in their everyday lives.

The Cards did a great job with replacing the hard-nosed Tony LaRussa with the right manager in Mike Matheny. Now, they’ve kept the train moving from Carpenter to Wainwright, who will pass it on to future stars. Long term deals for SP’s are always risky, but there’s more to this deal than just the money for Wainwright to pitch. We won’t ever have to worry about someone like Wainwright, whose character is unquestioned, not giving 100%. There’s no need to say much more, just watch this video of the press conference today from mlb.com.

I love how this deal was done without demands being made and Wainwright’s wife taking to the airwaves. There really is something special about his attitude and like you said, the Cards will need him around for the younger generation coming through. Wainwright’s Christianity is something we can believe in, unlike Pujols who only used it to his liking.

As a lifelong Cards fan, this is one of the best moments in team history for me. Our ownership group has a way of finding the right players with the right attitude and spend money wisely. The face of the franchise is now Yadi, Wainwright and Holliday, and were lucky to have all three.

I think Wainwright will not only help the young pitchers, but players like Taveras when he arrives, as he seems to have a few kinks to work out in the “acting like a pro” department. Thanks for following me back and posting on my blog.